Magic Lantern - Victorian trade cards and the magic lantern (part 3)

Trade cards and the magic lantern
part 3

	Great 19th century calendar trade card for Fleischmann Yeast. This card features a beautifully detailed chromolithograph of a living room lanternist, projecting the text "Use Fleischmann & Co.'s Compressed Yeast for Bakings of Every Kind." on the screen. The bottom right of the card features a December calendar for 1883, together with lovely Christmas graphics, including a tree and some presents. There are two punched holes at the top of the card for hanging the calendar card. The back is blank. Size of this large trade card is 6 1/2" x 5" (16.5 x 12.5 cm).

Another calendar trade card for the year 1901. Advantage of those calendar cards is the fact that they easily can be dated. This rare and special French trade card is clearly from 1900 en advertises “Cacao and Chocolat Suchard”. A magic lantern projects an adapted scene from the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale: the girl bringing a large piece of chocolate to her granny. A detailed coloured picture of the girl and the wolf is on the back of the card. Size: 7.5 cm by 5.2 cm (3"x 2") (closed).

Clark's O.N.T. Spool Cotton Thread. Date: c. 1890s. Size: 3 1/2" x 2 1/8" (9 x 5.5 cm).
	This terrific little trade card is an optical toy called 'Thaumatrope'. By twisting the strings and pulling them both in opposite directions between your hands, the card will spin and make the two images appear as one, showing a boy and a girl carrying a spool of Clark's thread (or are they fighting for it???).
Lithographer: Calvert Lith., Detroit Size: approx. 5 1/2" x 3 1/4" (14 x 8 cm).	Time Tested. This American trade card shows Father Time shining a magic lantern on the A. B. Chase Cos' Norwalk, O. factory, and an organ. Front caption: "Time Tested and Best on Earth" UP TO DATE. Reverse an advertisement for A. B. Chase, Norwalk. The organs and pianos are for sale by C. W. Edwards, Reading, PA.
	Rare trade card for L.J. Marcy's Sciopticon, probably coming from the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. Measures 3" x 5 1/4" (ca 14 x 8 cm).
	Victorian trade card for DUNHAMS SHREDED COCOANUT, featuring an advertisement for a magic lantern premium. The depicted lantern is made by Jean Schoenner, c. 1890. The card measures 5" x 3" (13 x 7.5 cm).
	Rare French trade card of a magic lantern show advertising Quina-Laroche, Paris. (11.5cm x 8cm).
Six wonderful "Shadow cards" of Au bon marché, France. Le paysan, le chat, l' oiseau, Croquemitaine, le loup, l'éléphant (The farmer, the cat, de vogel, Croquemitaine, the wolf, the elephant). Complete series, appr.1880.
	Two very nice trade cards with hand shadow images or shadowgraphs. On the back an advertisement for Cibils Bouillon. Dimensions 10.5 x 7 cm.
Three beautiful hand shadow trade cards from Liebig Company's Fleisch Extract. Dimensions 11cm x 7cm.

Two more French trade cards this time with the text 'Aux filles du Calvaire' on the front. Dimensions 10 x 7 cm.

Filles du Calvaire is a Paris Metro station on Line 8, in the 3rd and 11th arrondissements. The line opened on May 5, 1931. The station is named after the nearby street and square, which are named after a former convent of the Order of the Filles du Calvaire ("The Girls of Calvary"), a still-existing Benedictine congregation. The monastery was razed to the ground on the occasion of the French Revolution.


Rare Victorian trade card advertising detective office, 3.5 x 2.5 inches (c. 9 x 6 cm).	Advertisement for S. Smith, seller of photographs and lantern slides.

Trade cards, published by Theo J. Harbach, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
The American importer and manufacturer of magic lanterns and views Theo J. Harbach published a lot of trade cards. Though these cards never actually depict a magic lantern, they may not be absent on these pages of course.

Together with Alfred Vick he owned the American Cyclepede Co. with a factory, office and warerooms in Philadelphia. He sold his magic lanterns in his Magical Oraganette.

Besides magic lanterns and views the company sold several other articles, like organs and cyclepedes (a cross between an bicycle and a toy rocking-horse).

This wonderful American 4 5/8" x 5 3/8" trade card advertises the Harbach Organ Co. of Philadelphia; dealers of automatic organs and importers and manufacturers of magic lanterns, stereopticons, and slides.
The front of the card is a stock image of an angel with the company's imprint on it, and the back of the card features a magic lantern show with advertising projected onto the screen, probably an image of the cover of their catalogue. The card was printed by Crosscup & West.

	Three cards advertising Theo Harbach's American Cyclepede Co. The cards have two stamps on the back.
	Two cards, probably from a larger series.

	An amusing series of cards from Harbach's American Cyclepede Co. The colourful cards are approx. 2 ¾ x 5 3/8".


	Here are two nice trade cards that feature early peepshows. A peepshow could be a wooden box with a hole or several holes, containing a set of pictures that was exposed to the public while mostly the showman accompanied the show by spoken recitation that explained or dramatized what was happening inside.
	Trade card for The Automatic Stereopticon Advertising Company, Boston, c. 1860s. The company promised that its “Automatic Stereopticon Advertiser Works All Night,” displaying “your Advertisement to wondering crowds.” We see a large magic lantern placed in a town square, projecting the company’s name and address on a large screen erected on a horse-drawn cart.
(above) Maybe not a real trade card but certainly 'a kind of'. Ink Blotter that advertises the Keystone View Company, a maker of magic lantern slides. "A Visual Aid For Every Visual Need." B.t.w. The term ink blotter refers to a simple small sheet of blotting paper used to absorb excess ink when writing with fountain pens in former times. (right) Again not really a trade card. This is the label of a bottle of liqueur.

These trade card pages led to the article 'Trade Cards and the Magic Lantern, Intriguing images of the forerunner of film and slide projectors' by Henc R.A. de Roo in The advertising Trade Card Quarterly Vol. Nine, No. 3, Fall 2002, published by the Trade Card Collectors Association USA. Unfortunately this was the last volume of this very interesting magazine. The editor discovered the senselessness of collecting all kinds of material properties and sold his complete collection of trade cards and more. He started a new life as a preacher.